Lib Dems want capital punishment back

The Lib Dems have submitted to the State Duma a draft law on lifting a death penalty moratorium in Russia. They propose to restore capital punishment first of all for especially grave crimes like the murder of children and pregnant women.

­Another suggestion is toughening punishment for the killing of newborn babies by their mothers, and introducing the death penalty for the most outrageous cases. For the moment this crime is punishable by a five-year prison term. Responsibility for drug-related crimes should be toughened in the same way, the faction believes.

The Lib Dems appealed directly to the president, saying the criminogenic situation in Russia has not improved since 1996, when the moratorium entered into force.

According to statistics, Russia ranks third after South Africa and Brazil in the number of murders, the authors of the bill note. In addition, the Lib Dems stress, a recent Public Opinion Foundation poll revealed 62 per cent of Russians support the return of capital punishment.

The State Duma is unlikely to approve the draft law, believes MP Dmitry Vyatkin from the Constitutional Law Committee. A lifting of the moratorium would require Russia to quit the Council of Europe.